Doyle alleges new police files breach

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The Victoria Police had failed to act on further security breaches of its database, State Opposition Leader Robert Doyle said yesterday.

Mr Doyle released details of an alleged security breach in July last year as he renewed his call for a corruption commission.

Mr Doyle said the latest breach followed a federal police search of the database for an ethical standards department investigator. However, the search was "flagged" to the investigator in question, who then confronted federal police.

If the investigator had been suspected of criminal behaviour, any investigation would have been severely compromised, Mr Doyle said.

The breach follows revelations that a detective was caught last year using the police database to try to find the home address of a member of the Ceja taskforce, which is investigating police involved in the drug trade. Police yesterday denied there was any corruption involved.

Assistant Commissioner Noel Ashby said that last October he fined the officer $2500, transferred him and recorded the matter on the his personal file. The breach happened in February last year.

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"There was no evidence at all to find any linkages with corrupt behaviour," Mr Ashby said.

Computer security measures prevented the officer from getting the information he sought.

Mr Ashby said the officer previously worked in the same department as the Ceja member and the two were friends.

He said the officer initially denied the charge, fearing the consequences. "He was stupid, he was naive," Mr Ashby said.

Mr Doyle said federal police were so angry about the breach of their work that they reported it to the Victoria Police for investigation.

"And what did Victoria Police do about it? Nothing," he said. "The Premier has to understand that there is a culture that we need to expose. I don't think he wants to understand how deeply corruption runs in Victoria, but every time we turn around - another piece of evidence."

Mr Doyle also accused the Victoria Police media unit of trying to "browbeat" his staff over calls for a commission.

"It was inappropriate and improper for a police media person to contact my staff to try to browbeat him about what I had or had not said," Mr Doyle said.

"The clear message I got is: 'we're watching you mate, just watch what you say'."

A Victoria Police spokesman last night dismissed Mr Doyle's claims, saying its records showed no ethical standards officer had had their file checked by any federal police staff in 2003. The spokesman said police was unaware of any complaint.

Police also said that it was appropriate for the officer to know when his file had been checked given the nature of his work.